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Old People Smell Nicer Than Young People (3rd June, 2012)

"Old-person smell" is for real, according to a new study into body odour. And what's more, it's not as bad as the smell of younger people. Researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Centre in the USA tested people's perceptions of the body odour emitted by people aged 20 to 30, 45 to 55, and 77 to 95. Volunteers in each age group wore a T-shirt containing underarm pads to bed for five nights. Samples from the pads were then tested on 41 "sniffers," who had the task of evaluating each armpit smell. The evaluators were able to distinguish between the different age groups and said the smell from the older age group was less intense and less unpleasant than the others.

The study is part of wider research into how our brain interprets different human smells and how we react to them. Lead researcher Dr Johan Lundstrom said: "Similar to other animals, humans can extract signals from body odours that allow us to identify biological age, avoid sick individuals, pick a suitable partner, and distinguish kin from non-kin." He said of his test results: "Elderly people have a discernible underarm odour that younger people consider to be fairly neutral and not very unpleasant. This was surprising given the popular conception of old age odour as disagreeable." He said other bodily smells other than B.O. might also differ with age, especially that of our breath.

WARM-UPS

1. BODY ODOUR: Walk around the class and talk to other students about body odour. Change partners often. Sit with your first partner(s) and share your findings.

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. OLD & YOUNG PEOPLE: How are they different? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you wrote. Change and share again.

Young people

Old people

Manners

Driving

Memory

Fashion

Learning

Humour

4. B.O.: Students A strongly believe B.O. is the worst smell in the world; Students B strongly believe it isn't so bad. Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. SMELLS: Rank these and share your rankings with your partner. Put the best smells at the top. Change partners and share your rankings again.

cheesy feet

garlic breath

B.O.

dirty toilets

cheap perfume

gasoline

cow poo

garbage

6. SMELL: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word 'smell'. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.

"Old-person smell" is for (1) ____________, according to a new study into body odour. And what's (2) ____________, it's not as bad as the smell of younger people. Researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Centre in the USA (3) ____________ people's perceptions of the body odour emitted by people aged 20 to 30, 45 to 55, and 77 to 95. Volunteers in (4) ____________ age group wore a T-shirt containing underarm pads to bed for five nights. (5) ____________ from the pads were then tested on 41 "sniffers," who had the (6) ____________ of evaluating each armpit smell. The evaluators were able to (7) ____________ between the different age groups and said the smell from the older age group was less (8) ____________ and less unpleasant than the others.

eachdistinguishrealtasksamplesmoreintensetested

The study is part of (9) ____________ research into how our brain interprets different human smells and how we (10) ____________ to them. Lead researcher Dr Johan Lundstrom said: "Similar to other animals, humans can (11) ____________ signals from body odours that allow us to identify biological age, (12) ____________ sick individuals, pick a (13) ____________ partner, and distinguish kin from non-kin." He said of his test results: "Elderly people have a discernible underarm odour that younger people consider to be (14) ____________ neutral and not very unpleasant. This was surprising given the (15) ____________ conception of old age odour as disagreeable." He said other bodily smells other than B.O. might also differ with age, especially that of our (16) ____________.

avoidpopularreactextractfairlywiderbreathsuitable

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

"Old-person smell" is for real, according to a new study __________________. And what's more, it's not as bad as the smell of younger people. Researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Centre in the USA tested __________________ of the body odour emitted by people aged 20 to 30, 45 to 55, and 77 to 95. Volunteers in each age group wore a T-shirt containing __________________ bed for five nights. Samples from the pads were then tested __________________," who had the task of evaluating __________________. The evaluators were able to distinguish between the different age groups and said the smell from the older age group __________________ and less unpleasant than the others.

The study is part __________________ into how our brain interprets different human smells and __________________ to them. Lead researcher Dr Johan Lundstrom said: "Similar to other animals, humans can extract signals from body odours that ____________________ biological age, avoid sick individuals, pick a suitable partner, ____________________ from non-kin." He said of his test results: "Elderly people have a discernible underarm odour that younger people consider to __________________ and not very unpleasant. This was surprising given the popular conception of old age odour as disagreeable." He said other bodily smells other than B.O. might ____________________, especially that of our breath.

What would you do if you were in a crowded meeting all day and you overheard someone say you had terrible B.O.?

f)

Is the smell of some perfume worse than the smell of body odour?

g)

What would you do if the person you were sitting next to on a 12-hour flight that was full had seriously bad B.O.?

h)

What do you think of the smell of babies?

i)

Which is worse, B.O. or bad breath?

j)

What questions would you like to ask the body odour researchers?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

"Old-person smell" is for (1) ____, according to a new study into body odour. And what's (2) ____, it's not as bad as the smell of younger people. Researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Centre in the USA tested people's (3) ____ of the body odour emitted by people aged 20 to 30, 45 to 55, and 77 to 95. Volunteers in each age group wore a T-shirt containing underarm (4) ____ to bed for five nights. Samples from the pads were then tested (5) ____ 41 "sniffers," who had the task of evaluating each armpit smell. The evaluators were able to distinguish (6) ____ the different age groups and said the smell from the older age group was less intense and less unpleasant than the others.

The study is part of wider research (7) ____ how our brain interprets different human smells and how we react to them. Lead researcher Dr Johan Lundstrom said: "Similar to other animals, humans can (8) ____ signals from body odours that allow us to identify biological age, avoid sick individuals, pick a (9) ____ partner, and distinguish kin from non-kin." He said of his test results: "Elderly people have a discernible underarm odour that younger people (10) ____ to be fairly neutral and not very unpleasant. This was surprising (11) ____ the popular conception of old age odour as disagreeable." He said other bodily smells other than B.O. might also (12) ____ with age, especially that of our breath.

Old people smell nicer than young people

"Old-person smell" is for (1) real, according to a new study into body odour. And what's (2) more, it's not as bad as the smell of younger people. Researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Centre in the USA (3) tested people's perceptions of the body odour emitted by people aged 20 to 30, 45 to 55, and 77 to 95. Volunteers in (4) each age group wore a T-shirt containing underarm pads to bed for five nights. (5) Samples from the pads were then tested on 41 "sniffers," who had the (6) task of evaluating each armpit smell. The evaluators were able to (7) distinguish between the different age groups and said the smell from the older age group was less (8) intense and less unpleasant than the others.

The study is part of (9) wider research into how our brain interprets different human smells and how we (10) react to them. Lead researcher Dr Johan Lundstrom said: "Similar to other animals, humans can (11) extract signals from body odours that allow us to identify biological age, (12) avoid sick individuals, pick a (13) suitable partner, and distinguish kin from non-kin." He said of his test results: "Elderly people have a discernible underarm odour that younger people consider to be (14) fairly neutral and not very unpleasant. This was surprising given the (15) popular conception of old age odour as disagreeable." He said other bodily smells other than B.O. might also differ with age, especially that of our (16) breath.